Further Beyond: Ascension

Lunesday, 13th of Augustus, 470th Year of the Fifth Era

Josias stood at the main deck of a galleon ship as he leaned onto the taffrails with his arms folded. It was a huge expanse of endless blue, as far as the eye could see. Next to him was his wife who still stood marvelling at the view of the ocean.

Her hair looked like it was dancing as it was being blown by the ocean breeze. She still had an awestruck look upon her face as she gazed out to the waters.

"I don't understand why you're still awestruck by this endless blue expanse, hasian." Josias shook his head as he pulled up a stool to sit down on. He was careful to keep his balance up as he sat.

"I don't understand why you're not awestruck, husband." Serena said as she poked a finger upon Josias' chest before pointing out to the ocean. "How does this endless array of water not mesmerise you? Don't you see the waves fluttering about like they're dancing, oh or the occasional jumping fish?"

"Well, it was indeed the sight to behold for the first couple of weeks, but after more than a month? I could use a little bit of variation to my view."

"You better start getting used to it soon, though, considering it's still a week at least until we reach the next harbor."

As Josias was enduring his wife's lecturing of him, the disgusting sound of someone vomiting could be heard. Josias turned his head and saw Mateus puking out his breakfast, being supported by his wife Arta. Josias never knew Mateus was that susceptible to travel by water but it was always amusing to see. What was less amusing was the fact that he was wasting their continuously meager rations by throwing it up.

The ship's captain had already informed them that it would still be several days until they reached the next port. It had been a few weeks since they last saw a spec of land let alone a harbor. Every vessel and trading ship that passed them also had a limited amount of supplies and couldn't trade with them.

As Josias was thinking about all of this, he felt a brush to his side and turned his head. Rubbing against his arm was his beloved tiger beast. On top of it, Tigor and Tiur were laughing as they rode the beast's head. These tiger beasts were the biggest drain on their supplies but Josias couldn't bring himself to blame them. Not when they were treating the children so patiently like that. Of course not everyone thought so.

"Children get off the tiger right now! You're bothering it greatly." Serena groaned as she picked the children up to bring them down. Tiur laughed and came down easily enough but her brother Tigor was being a little difficult.

"No! I want to play with the tiger!!" Serena had to yank the little toddler off while he held on to the tiger's ears. Surprisingly besides some low growls and winces, it didn't do anything much. "Let me play!!"

"Tigor, explain to me how you're going to play with that big and dangerous tiger." Serena wasn't taking any objections from the small child "You're still so small and these aren't your regular pets, you know. They're dangerous, man-eating, beasts bred for war."

The tiger beast immediately made some low chuffing noises as it held its head down while walking towards Serena. It then continued to rub its head against Serena's hands, seemingly asking her to pet its fur.

"Ugh, Biar, you're not helping my lesson of discipline." Serena looked at the tiger as she rubbed its fur behind its ears causing it to purr in delight. It tried to lick Serena's arm but she turned its head away. "No licking. I'm not in the mood to heal myself from getting my skin scraped."

"Hasian, I don't see why we can't let the children play with Biar." Josias said "As you can see, he's the gentlest and most patient of all our mounts."

"Letting Tigor play with tigers will make him think that all beasts of the like are safe to play with. Sure, he's safe with us but what of when we get to the western continent?"

"Then it's our job to teach him to differentiate between what is dangerous and what is not, what is bad and what is good…"

Serena sighed before rolling her eyes. "If anything happens to our precious little Tigor, that's going to be on you, Josi."

"Nothing's going to happen, love." Josias grabbed Tigor and carried him before asking him "And you my precious little brother. If you want to play with the tigers, make sure you have us watching over you, okay?"

Tigor was still pouting but he nodded eventually. It was Tiur who said, "...but Abang Timo said it was okay to play with them."

Josias looked around and saw that his elder cousin was slumped on a chair knocked out and dozing. The ship's movements didn't make his bowels turn like they did to Mateus, but Timo had been awfully fatigued for the duration of the voyage thus far. Josias sighed before looking back to his younger cousins.

"Well, make sure next time the adults who gave you permission actually do watch and not just sleep like bang Timo…" Josias said "Anyways, do you want to go back on the tiger?"

Josias expected the children – especially Tigor – to be excited but after giving a certain look, the boy shook his head. Instead, Josias could hear grumbling coming from Tigor's belly. Both he and his wife chuckled when they heard the noise. The little boy only looked at them innocently before saying, "Bang, I'm hungry. I really am."

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"Aren't we all." Josias nodded before sighing. It was the children who had to be looked after the most. Due to their constraints, they had to ration themselves a little strictly but Josias could always give away some of his own portion to the children.

Ever since he resolved himself for his exile, Josias had found himself unable to finish his rations. There would always be leftovers and his companions would joyfully grab it for themselves when he couldn't finish. He still didn't feel like doing a good number of things ever since his father's death. If it wasn't for his companions' resolve, he might have even started to neglect his training.

As Josias was about to head to the ship's galley, he felt a slight shift on the shift. The waves had been relatively calm but something was disturbing the waters. He looked up to the sky. There wasn't a shred of a dark cloud looming above them. What was it?

He didn't have to wait long for his question to be answered.

"All hands on deck! Ready the cannons!!" The captain of the ship shouted as the crew hurriedly scrambled about setting up the cannons of the ship. "Unfurl the sails and send a signal to the other ships!"

"Kraken!!" A crewmate upon the ship's mast shouted as he pointed westward.

Josias quickly turned to the direction where the crewmate was pointing towards and there he saw it. A creature almost as large as the ship he was on was emerging from the ocean. A beast with no discernable main body aside from its elongated head with numerous spiked tentacles below it. It looked like a colossal form of a squid that Josias would sometimes eat when he visited the coastal villages and ports of the Halaklands.

But on this scale? He had never seen anything like it.

"Serena! Get yourself and the children below deck!" Josias shouted as he unsheathed his sabre. His other companions were also getting their wits about them as they sent their wives down with them. Serena nodded as she quickly took the children along with her and the other ladies inside the ship.

Josias kept his eyes trained onto the kraken as he walked up towards the taffrails as he steadied himself on them. He could see the three other ships that made up their small trading fleet also position themselves with their broadside towards the sea monster.

After a few minutes of preparation, the order then came. "Broadside fire!!" The captain roared as his order was followed by a thunderous cacophony of cannon fire.

Josias and his companions had to duck while holding their hands over their ears. Weapons like these weren't unfamiliar to them but they were still scarcely used within the Halaklands. And what fearsome weapons they were.

The first volley of a combined several dozen cannons tore through the exposed body of the beast like a scythe through wheat. Amazingly, the kraken hadn't yet perished though it was gravely injured. Instead, its rounded, bloodied eyes were now trained towards the main galleon Josias and his companions were on.

The kraken propelled itself towards the ship with what strength it had left and swam towards it with great speed like an arrow loosed from a bow. Just as it was about to hit the ship, it turned its head around and exposed its large beaked mouth towards the ship.

"Take cover, ye bastards!" The captain shouted as everyone immediately ducked behind a larger object. Josias jumped down behind the ship's wooden walls beneath the taffrails and ducked.

Immediately after, a large cloud of black smoke came over the ship. In response to this, Timotheus along with the other mages on the ship had gotten up and gathered large balls of wind to drive away the black smoke. When the smoke receded, Josias got back up and saw that a good part of the ship's broadside was now coloured black.

The kraken was already swimming away from the ship as it seemed to try and make its escape though at a noticeably slower pace.

"Damned overgrown squid!" The captain cursed as he approached Josias' side along with some other crewmen. He looked over the blackened oak of the ship and clicked his tongue. "Fuck me, we just had her painted too! Fucker didn't even have the decency to die and have us use its corpse for compensation."

"What's one of 'em doin' this far away from the north?" A sailor mused.

"Who knows? Might be lost?" Another sailor answered.

"A huge waste of powder and munitions is what that was." The ship's captain shook his head as he turned to leave. "If you boys had been quicker to reload we might've had calamari for dinner."

Josias saw the squid as it was swimming away deeper but it was still at a workable distance in his mind. He saw close to him were some sharpened throwing spears and javelins and with that an idea came to mind.

"Captain, if you'd excuse me for taking a few of these…" Josias said as he grabbed several of the throwing spears. He threw a couple more to his companions Johannes and Hesekiel as he nodded towards them. The captain seemed initially surprised as he saw what Josias was trying to do.

"With all due respect, young lord, yer only gon' be wastin' more of our munitions…" The old captain sighed exasperatedly as he seemed to be unable to handle the young Halak warriors who had been entrusted to him. "It would take at least a few three-star warriors to even try and pierce that deep, youngin'. Maybe even a fourth-star warrior to damage it that deep…"

Josias gave a simple glance and a wry smile to the old captain. He and his companions hadn't really been advertising their prowess as warriors but it would seem that his father-in-law hadn't informed most of the crew of their abilities. Well, they had taken care of them well enough for the past few months for a relatively miserly fee. Josias felt like he and his companions had to compensate somehow. It felt awful to the Halak to be freeloaders when one has reached the stage of an adult.

"Well, Captain Farnaby, you seem to be in luck. It seems we'll be eating 'calamari' after all." Josias said as he then poised himself towards the direction of the wounded kraken. In an instant the spear he was holding was emblazoned in his red, flaming and fiery aura.

"Well I'll be…" Captain Farnaby widened his eyes as he took a few steps back because of the heat Josias was producing. "I really am gettin' old. I've seen it all now…"

Josias unleashed the spear as its flames created steam as it pierced through the waters and hit the kraken's body close to its mouth. Immediately the part which was hit began to turn pale. Soon, Johannes' and Hesekiel's spears also found their marks on different parts of the beast's body.

Not wanting to waste the opportunity, Captain Farnaby immediately rushed towards the helm of the ship while shouting orders.

"Unfurl the sails, lads, and ready the grapples! We have a kraken to crack! Hahahahah!" the old captain shouted with unbridled joy.

"Marlange hita? (Are we up for a swim?)" Johannes asked as he exchanged glances with Josias and Hesekiel. Hesekiel silently nodded before Josias took off his belt, sword sheathe, and his shirt before he grabbed another spear.

"Eta ma. (Let's go.)" Josias climbed over the taffrails before jumping over into the waters of the sea. It was a new experience, but learning was one of the major motivators for their voyage anyways. Besides, with their meager rations, there was only one thing left to do in this situation.

They had a squid to catch.